Ultimatum: Good Intentions
by MRAY 4TW
Summary: People who commit well-intentioned deeds have never sought rewards, but Omnipotence has decided that it would be good encouragement for others who belong to the more...unpleasant side of Humanity. Jenna has committed a grave mistake, but only the reward for Good-Intentioned deeds will rectify it. But with the reward in her grasp, what will she do with its awesome power? (Morals)


**Ultimatum: Good Intentions**

 **Time for my third Ultimatum story. The ideas are all mine, and I hope you enjoy. If you have the need or want to comment, feel free to do so. This is a one shot, done purely for leisure.**

 **1 – Shot.**

"What is that?"

"Do you hear it?!"

"I do!"

"Shush! Listen!"

"… _ **I speak to all of Humanity. All can hear, and will listen. My name is unspeakable in all of your separate tongues, but mine is compatible will all of your differentiated and diverse understandings. My name, if you wish to address me by a title as you must, is Omnipotence."**_

" _ **Yet another self-sacrificial person, another saint who has dedicated their whole life to helping others, has passed. They have shown that it is not a difficult task to cater to the less fortunate with all that they were, and all that they had. Other such women and men have done so, amidst a planet filled with violent others, such as yourself. Let who that is offended be counted as one of those who are. Their most heartfelt wish was for mankind to be kinder and more considerate for its own hapless ones. While it is not in everyone's best interest to change any and everyone to have the same mentality, all I can offer, is proper motivation."**_

 _All over the world, everything had virtually come to a standstill as everyone was awake, aware, and listened to the voice that spoke inside each of their own heads. They had already confirmed with one another that each was hearing it, and listened carefully to the surreal voice that was as calm as a floating feather, as sturdy as a mountain, as fiery as magma, and as serious as a heart attack._

" _ **As of right now, for those born and have grown, as are those yet to be born, there will be a sort of gauge meter tattooed on the inside of your wrist. This meter runs on percentage. Good deeds raises the percentage. Bad deeds, the opposite. It cannot go less than zero, nor higher than a hundred."**_

 _A brief pause as everyone felt a cooling and pleasant sensation on their wrists, and all checked it to see the percent. It was only a number, and all saw 0%._

" _ **It's not purely based on the deed itself. While it is responsible for the bulk of it, such as the number of said deeds, as well as the impact it creates, it is also raised by the heart's sincerity. There is only one reward, and that is if you gain a full hundred percent. The meter, is only visible to yourself and others should you will it."**_

"What sort of reward?" The whole world asked aloud in different variations.

" **The reward...is one wish. It is an ever-powerful wish that can grant anything you request. When you so request to make the wish, call to me, and I will answer."**

 _Everyone got excited and eagerly chattered among themselves, but fell quiet as Omnipotence begun to speak again._

" _ **But there is one horrible complication. You may either take the hundred percent and you will come into Paradise on guarantee, without trading it for a wish. If you make a wish, you run a halved chance of still going to heaven, or be damned to Eternal Limbo, where nothing exists for you. You will be alive in the most theoretical of ideas, but you will sense and know nothing for all eternity. By opinion, one could say that it is a fate worse than being destroyed to an infinitesimal degree. I have spoken, Humanity. You control your fate, and may your efforts to gain your heart's desire in return for good intentions bless you."**_

 _And there, the voice ceased speaking._

All over the world ever since then, everyone had toiled to reach a hundred. It had proven more laborious than one would have earlier presumed. It seemed as though people who were naturally kind hearted people and had completely good intentions and not just to gain the wish earned a higher percentage than others, when those who toiled for the wish did it all their lives. People were nearly competing with one another to outdo the other with kindness, but it wasn't as bad as one would think.

There were nearly no homeless. All were picked up off the streets.

There were no hungry. Everyone ate, courtesy of others.

No one was neglected. Everyone was cared for, done by limitless amounts of charities.

But that still didn't discourage criminals though. But at the very least, reckless vigilantes existed, and a lot more doctors and policemen, as well as other 'helpful' civil servants.

If the world was terrible before, at least it was now only a quarter as much. For a while at least, before the Good Intentions meter was forgotten to most.

 _ **Ultimatum**_

"That is indeed correct, Jenna." The teacher congratulated, and wrote the correct answer on the white-board. "Now then-"

The bell rang here, shrill and long as it reverberated around the high school. The teacher shrugged and turned back to her students. "That it for class today, I'm afraid. I don't have any homework for you-"

The class cheered as they gathered their things. There were a few catcalls but the lady of the room ignored it.

"But I still want you to study. Read pages seventy-five through to page eighty-two if you want to get a heads up on the next topic."

That was all she had to say, before the class was emptied of all occupants, save for her and her best student. "Thanks for not giving any homework."

"Aw, you too, Jenna?" Ms. Brown asked in jest, smiling a little.

The girl smiled in her response as well to reciprocate the gesture. "Its not that I don't like it. But I do have a busy weekend."

"That seems usual for you."

"You know it." Jenna turned and begun to walk out. "See you next week, miss."

"Alright then." The teacher waved to her pupil, and the pupil did as well to her mentor of secondary education. Soon, Jenna had collected her things, and exited through the main double-doors that allowed passage in and from the front of the institution.

As she walked into the fairly mild glare of the 3:00 pm sun, she squinted and saw her best friend in the process of stepping off of the front sidewalk. Jenna grinned and waved to get her attention. "Hey! Latoya! Wait!"

She was still walking when she heard the shout. She turned and saw her friend hailing her. "Hurry up, Jenna! I have a lot of things to do tod-"

That was all she had time to say as a vehicle approaching from her blind spot slammed into her at seventy miles an hour. Her legs were broken in two instantly at the knees by the front bumper, and lifted up as the vehicle accelerated. As her whole upper torso was walloped by the hood, her head got a vicious clout on the windshield as her body up and belted across the front and the top of the car as the vehicle continued another fifty meters and crashed into a sturdy cement-made light pole.

"Latoya!" Jenna screamed as she ran to the body in the road. All others did pay interest and attention in some way, as all swarmed the girl in the street and prevented any vehicles that might strafe too close. The girl laid there in the middle of the road, unmoving. "Latoya! Someone call Emergency!"

A nearby teacher had already dialed said number was still speaking hysterically to whoever had answered. "Yes! The high school! The front of the school! Get over here, damnit!" The man hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket as he ran over. "Don't touch her! You might injure her further!"

"She's not moving!" A boy teen yelled. He knelt down and put his ear closer to the girl's face. "She's not breathing, either!"

"Latoya, get up!" Tears ran down the girl's face as she saw her friend lie motionless in the street, her body in a broken and wrecked state. She quickly knelt down and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Get UP!" She screamed as she watched the head loll around limply with blood flowing from the mouth.

That was all she did, before the teacher seized her by the shoulders and pulled her away as her own body seemed to dim to her efforts to act. Her eyes lidded as she regarded her best friend with teary vision. "Latoya…"

 _ **Ultimatum**_

The memorial and funeral service had passed, in almost as sudden a manner as the girl it was kept for.

Jenna watched her friend lowered into the grave, her eyes red and the area around it puffy to indicate how much she had cried. It had been no secret to all who were there, and to find out from word of mouth that the girl blamed herself, and took pains to avoid mentioning anything that was even comparable to the word 'blame' itself. It was quite simple and an easy delusion to fall into, but to some extent, it was probably true; she had occupied her attention when she was crossing the street. If she were more focused, she would have lived. At the very least, see the vehicle in her peripheral vision and leap back out of the way.

The driver had been killed as well; reports from the investigation indicated that the man had lost control of his vehicle, and nearly all electrical components of it, including his horn. But most important of which, his brakes.

By all means, it was just another weekend tragedy.

Nearly every waking moment, Jenna spent either openly weeping or bottling it up. She yearned for a way to fix this, a way to assuage her guilt, and to alleviate her grief. Her grades fell; she spent her lunch periods with the guidance counselor and her weekends prattling to her psychologist. Far be it from her to admit that her friend had an even more profound effect on her dead than alive. But she knew that it was true.

And then…it became worse.

Instead of listening to her psychologist and to 'let it out', she bottled it up. She became a rather taciturn and morose individual. At the last minute, her grades were decent enough to pass her to the last form and year.

During which, she made a full on improvement in academics. She was barely called on in class, and people often wondered what she sounded like. She was at the top of the class, and rarely, if ever, answered an oral question. Graduation, class photos passed with her in a corner, yearbooks signed and she was moving on to any of the three Universities & Colleges she had sent application letters to. She just picked one on a whim, and soon found herself studying…something. She was learning how to do _something_ , but for the life of her had no idea what. She was just going through the motions.

It was when she graduated here a few years and moved on through final training at the last institution, she decided to finally apply for a job.

And there, reality struck her in the face like a brick.

The man looked up from her sheet and leveled her an incredulous stare. "Ma'am? With all due respect, why the hell would you become a store clerk when you're qualified as a…" He quickly glanced back at the sheet and scanned it again with darting eyes. "Trauma Surgeon?"

"A trauma surgeon?" She asked quietly, genuinely surprised. She didn't even realized that she had gone to medical school and finished her residency at one of the best hospitals in the country. "Residency? How do I know that word?" She muttered to herself in question.

"Doctor, with all due respect," The man sputtered. "I can't hire you. While I would love to, seeing that you are qualified to work with the most delicate of situations, following instructions and could possibly take care of other employees should they hurt themselves on the job, I just can't." He handed her sheet back to her. "I couldn't hold that on my conscience, knowing that you could be saving lives in emergency situations in a hospital, and holding you back in this dump of an establishment." He stood and stretched. "I don't know how you seem spaced out, but please better yourself from that and go do what you're trained for. Now up you go. Go on, now."

 _ **Ultimatum**_

Jenna kicked a pebble just before she walked into her childhood home; she had moved back in with her mother at the woman's insistence, not that the elder woman had to really insist. Her daughter was like a leaf in the wind…moving wherever it took her without any resistance. She got the feeling that Jenna still hadn't realized that she was roughly thirteen years older than the day the accident took place. The accident. A tragic occurrence, yes, but everyone else, even Latoya's own parents had moved on.

Jenna's mother sighed deeply. No parent should bury their own child.

She eyed her daughter and decided that if Jenna just wanted some good news, she could have it. If it would give her some purpose, then let it be. Anything, any purpose or meaning was better than nothing.

"Listen, Jenna." The older woman grabbed her daughter's hands. "I have something important to tell you."

Silence answered her.

"Do you remember the old story of people being able to get their wishes granted?"

Jenna looked up into her mother's pleasantly wrinkled face, framed by salt-and pepper hair. She raised her eyebrows. "Wishes?"

"Oh yes! Wishes." The woman reaffirmed. "Only a few people on record have gotten it granted, but anyone was able and eligible to earn it."

"Earn it, mother? Please explain." She stated evenly. The older woman sighed a bit internally. Such an answer was better than none, she supposed.

"Wishes. Any wish could be granted." She had set the bait, now it was time to suggest an idea, and let it take root. Hopefully, it wouldn't backfire. "People wished for riches, power, influence, love, bringing dead loved ones to life…"

If the younger was merely listening before, now she was positively captivated. "Tell me more!"

"Have you heard of the Good Intentions Meter?"

And Jenna was lost in the attempt to ensnare with suggestion. She scoffed openly. "That's just a bedtime story. I myself have tried to view it on my own wrist when I was a little girl. I never did see it."

"It's simple. I myself have viewed mine many times." The maternal figure replied sagely, and showed Jenna her wrist, and with fifteen seconds, characters appeared in blue that said _**37%**_.

"Is that some sort of trick?" Jenna asked disbelievingly as she studied her mother's hand.

"There is none."

The doctor looked at her own wrist and tried to see if it would her for her as well. After trying for nearly ten minutes, she became frustrated. "Why doesn't it work?"

"Simple." The woman answered with a smile, as if she knew a secret. "Just ask for it to show up, and say please. It is based on Good Intentions for a reason. Pity only a few discovered how to get it to show, for only they actually had the decency to have common courtesy. Although I had the same issue, my mother told it to me as a gift when I was younger."

Jenna stared at her hand in a stupor. "That simple?"

"Yes, dear."

"…" Jenna nerved herself and decided to just do it; the worst thing that could happen was if it didn't work and her mother would claim that she was the brunt of an elaborate joke. "I would like to see my Good Intentions meter, please."

And it appeared on her hand mere seconds later, in black. _**17%**_

"That's pretty decent." Her mother observed. "You used to spend your weekends doing good deeds just to see if the meter existed back then. Although you stopped, it never decreased, as I know it to be able to do if you do bad things."

"But…I killed my friend."

"No you didn't."

"What if the meter was higher than this and the meter dropped!" Jenna yelled. "You don't know!"

"As are you!" The mother said sternly. "People have toiled their whole lives in order get the wish, and never even make it into double digits."

"But…you're almost sixty."

"I know, don't remind me." The woman said crossly. "The point is, since you mourn your best friend so much, why not continue doing good intentioned deeds, raise the meter and wish her to life? Shouldn't be hard for you, you're not even employed yet-"

Jenna was already running through the door, in all haste.

 _ **Ultimatum**_

It had risen by two percent by the end of the year.

Her mother had thought that abnormal in amount, actually. It was hard to even lift it a single percent, much less two. And this was after Jenna had become a full on trauma surgeon and doing the best she could on patients.

She had to do more.

She moved into a studio apartment, practically gave away everything else she owned to the less fortunate and helped the infirm whenever she could. Being the Trauma surgeon that she was, she regularly treated victims of accidents, and it reminded her so much of her friend's untimely demise. It fuelled her drive to be better, and soon, it was rising by three percent a year.

The years passed. She lived Spartan-like in belongings, giving away all her earned cash after food expenses and what few bills like a meager electric bill, and a tiny water charge bill. And there was the rent, but it was also insignificant. She practically found a new charity or cause to give her cash every month.

She could not be robbed. She had nothing.

She could not be hurt. Everyone appreciated her too much.

She didn't entertain any wrong doing. She was saintly.

And ever so slowly, she began to smile, cheering others at the sight of it.

She was single, poor, overworked, and too helpful for her own good…

And she was happy.

 _ **Ultimatum**_

Her mother passed away peacefully in her sleep a few years prior. She did so, for she could see the change in her daughter's demeanor, and all around character. She was happy knowing that her daughter wouldn't be wracked with emotional guilt and grief all her life, and left a letter telling her the very same. She left with no regrets, and over her passing, Jenna did not cry.

Much.

It only lasted a week, but it had now been roughly twenty-eight years. She had accomplished all that she had spent most of her life working for, and the meter now read a golden _**100%**_

"Right." Jenna told herself. "How do I make this work? Do I simply say that I want to make a wish?"

" _ **Yes, my child. It is that simple."**_

"Who said that?!" She looked wildly around the room, searching for the ethereal voice that seemed to have spoken directly into her ear. Frantically searching, she was badly unsettled further when the voice spoke again.

" _ **I am here to grant your wish. Is that not what you wanted?"**_

"Yes!" She yelled.

" _ **Such a volume is unnecessary. You could even vocalize in your very thoughts, and I would still hear."**_

Jenna sat on her bare mattress on the ground. "I'll whisper. But yes, I want to make a wish."

" _ **What is it that you desire?"**_

"I wish for my childhood best friend to be brought back to life." She spoke with conviction without missing a beat, as if she had rehearsed it.

" _ **I see. It is within my grasp to do so."**_ The voice answered smoothly.

"Yes, yes?!"She asked eagerly.

" _ **Of course. I can. But I believe it would be in your best interest if you held off a moment longer.**_ "

"What?! But I want it granted! What's wrong?!" She protested in a screamed-whisper. She feared that her toil may had been for nothing.

" _ **Patience. I have seen your grief over the years, child. You wish for your friend to be brought back to life. She is currently here, and is able to speak with you from Paradise. Would you rather consult with her first?"**_

Jenna's breath caught in her throat. More than anything, she wanted to speak to her friend, to hear her voice once again, instead of her haunting last words. But what if she was angry with her? It was a chance that she had to take. "Yes, please."

" _ **As you desire. This lasts for a few minutes, then I'll request if you would still make your wish."**_

" _ **Jenna?!"**_ A new voice spoke.

"Latoya?!" Her eyes bulged as she recognized her friend's voice, although it had a slight change in vocals; it sounded a bit like the 'person' who spoke to her first.

" _ **Oh wow! You sound…wow! Like a grown-up!"**_

"I **am** grown up. I'm fifty-six years old." Jenna rolled her eyes. "You haven't changed a bit, huh? Listen, I want to make a wish to bring you back to life! How does that sound?" She asked excitedly.

" _ **Actually, I don't think so."**_

"What?!" The woman asked in shock and fairly-understandable panic.

" _ **Yeah. I don't wanna be friends with an old lady."**_

Jenna sighed. It was just a joke. "Are you serious?"

" _ **I am. I know all about how shook up you were, yah crazy girl. It's not your fault, you know."**_

"It feels like it is."

" _ **Well, if it actually is, I'm glad it happened."**_

"You're glad that you were killed in a sudden and violent death?!" She asked incredulously.

"… _ **I think so, yes. You've helped so many people as a surgeon, and good deeds practically every hour. You've done so much."**_ Latoya on the other end sounded like she was tearing up. _ **"You used to say that you wanted to become a model. As hard as that is to believe, but that's not the point. You've lived the life that saints have lived. Giving all to and for others and all that junk, yah know?"**_

"…I understand what you're saying." Jenna admitted.

" _ **And you were happier for it, aren't you?"**_

"Yes."

" _ **And I'm happy in Paradise, no?"**_

"Y-"

" _ **Rhetorical question. Man, you could never tell when I was asking that. Just…know that I forgive you if you think you killed me early in life, and I thank you for living the life you did. Don't wish me back. Besides, you've lived your life already, and I would come back as a teenager. I don't think you want that."**_

"I wouldn't. I couldn't keep up with you then and I sure couldn't do that now at my current age." Jenna chuckled wryly.

" _ **Yeah. It's been good chatting with you. By the way, your mom says hi."**_

"What?! Mom?! T…tell her hi from me too."

"… _ **Alright, I told her. 'Bye, Jen."**_

"'Bye, Latoya."

A minute passed as Jenna wept to herself in silence. Perhaps she should have felt like she lived all of those years as a pauper for nothing, but she didn't care. She felt as if a massive burden had been lifted…no, she felt as if someone had taken the _world_ off of her shoulders, and she felt…free. She felt positively happy.

" _ **Alright my child. The time is nigh. Your percentage guarantees a place for you in Paradise, or you could use it for a wish. At that point, you run the halved risk of being in ethereal limbo for all of eternity. Do you understand these terms?"**_

"I do. I spent so long working to get this wish granted, and now, I don't know what to wish for, if I want to that is…"

" **Take your time. It's not as if anyone else in the world is in your current situation."**

Jenna chuckled at the attempt at a joke, before thinking carefully. She knew all about odds in her work. It wasn't like in the movies where fifty-fifty was still basically a win. People died and lived frequently to these odds, and she had a lot to gain and lose both ways.

Her best friend and even her mother were in Paradise. She was guaranteed a place. Or she could make a wish and halve the chance. But wish on what? Where? Who? Why?

She had listened to terminal children on reality shows in the hospital that who made 'wishes'. But the show could only grant what was in their power, like if they wanted something materialistic, like a video game or something of the sort.

But she heard wishes like 'World Peace' and 'End World Hunger'. All the set producers could do was laugh with the kids and tell them that they'll try.

As if.

Was she selfish if she wanted to be guaranteed Paradise? She felt that she was far from selfish, judging from the life she'd lived. But she had a chance, to do something truly outstanding…something truly substantial and earth-shaking in it's resolution.

She thought of Paradise.

She thought of the World.

She came to a decision.

"Are you listening?"

" _ **As always, my child."**_

"That's noted. Please listen. I-"

 **And that's a wrap. Oh yes, I end Ultimatum one-shots on cliffhangers. But I know what they do, so, if you really want to know, pm me and I'll tell you, if it makes you feel better. That's all, and thanks for reading.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


End file.
